


Moving On, Except Not Really

by Juliette_heronstairs_apples



Category: The Dark Artifices Series - Cassandra Clare
Genre: Cows, Fluff and Angst, Humour?, I'm Sorry, M/M, Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-29
Updated: 2019-05-30
Packaged: 2020-03-29 11:35:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,167
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19019098
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Juliette_heronstairs_apples/pseuds/Juliette_heronstairs_apples
Summary: Just a little thing I wrote in about 15 mins about Kit and Ty, afterwards.





	1. Kit

Kit finds himself in a brilliant mood that morning. It's a Saturday, so no tutor, and both Jem and Tessa have taken the day off, so it's a free, family day. He bounds out of bed, runs down the stairs, and nearly knocks his baby sister over in his hurry. Cordy's got pretty good at dodging him, though, so she just gives him the dirtiest look a three year old can give and toddles off. He calls an apology after her and gets some bagels from the kitchen before heading out, whistling softly. 

Kit thought he was a city boy, but Devon might have changed his mind. Everyone is nice, and everyone knows everything about everyone and loves them anyway. And the picturesque scenery doesn't exactly hurt. 

Maybe heading out to the hills was a mistake, because surrounded by nothing but cows and his thoughts, Kit's thoughts inevitably turn to Ty. To the unsent letters in his desk drawer that Ty cannot and will not ever know of or see. To Kit's last sight of Ty, to  _I wish I'd never met you._ To the proclamations of love that Ty had brushed aside, uncaring. Kit sighs, and buries his head in a cow's leg, which is admittedly a little strange, but no one's around to judge. The cow- Rosie, he thinks, but to be honest all the cows look the same to him- looks down at him charitably and gracefully lowers herself to the ground, so Kit can lean on her side comfortably. Kit pats her back in gratitude. 

He thinks of Ty, of his moonlight-grey eyes and his soft black hair. Kit misses his smile more than he thinks is healthy: isn't time supposed to heal you? Shouldn't he have forgotten? But he doesn't think he is physically capable of forgetting Ty. At that, he lets out a slightly bitter laugh, and hearing that shocks him out of his despair. Who is he, a romantic poet? So he had an unreciprocated crush.  _So what._ It's not like it's never happened before. He shakes himself a bit and goes back to watching the hills. Where did his good mood go? 

He decides to head back. After all, Jem and Tessa had taken the day off. Rosie the Cow moos after him, and he turns and waves at her. She stops mooing, as if that was all she was waiting for, and goes back to trying to eat the grass with her nose, despite having teeth for that.

When he's back at the house, Jem and Tessa thankfully don't mention his little escapade, or the fact that he's not whistling any more. Tessa makes him have an apple, insisting that bagels aren't enough to survive on, which Kit disagrees with. They decide to go to the theme park, which is about 3 miles away on foot (who takes a car when you could do exercise?: Kit) but is so worth it because despite being broken and highly dangerous, there's something charming about a merry go round where the horses all have horrific, terrifying smiles and the poles have all rotted away but it's ok because they were replaced by rope, which is safe, right? and the music doesn't work until suddenly it does, very loudly, scaring everyone off their horses. And don't get Kit started on the dodgems. They're extremely unsafe and extremely fun and Kit thinks they're how he wants to die, which is ok, because knowing that theme park he probably will. 

And so they plan their whole day, describing in detail the rides they'll go on, and the food they'll eat, but of course nobody moves from the couch and the chairs and in Cordy's case the floor, because it's a Saturday and who can be asked? Kit likes that, that they spend more time planning on doing stuff than actually doing stuff, and everyone knows and silently acknowledges that. 

By the time they've finished lazily planning their day, they've been talking for over an hour, which Kit finds quite impressive. By this time they have carefully described how they will set fire to the house without being blamed so that Jem can run away with a handsome fireman, how Kit will give the cows a heart-wrenching speech which will persuade said cows to join their cause (they're not sure what their cause is) and how Cordy is going to start being taught Russian today so she can fit in when she joins the Mafia. At this point Jem covers Cordy's ears and protests, but Tessa and Kit shout him down. 

After this interesting conversation, Jem puts lunch on, because Tessa can cook but won't. They have lasagne, and Kit declares he won't eat it, because he's going vegetarian, and then eats it. Tessa goes all mum-mode, asking everyone if they want any more as if she's going to make it, cleaning Cordy's chin when her spoon makes a detour, and dabbing a cloth at Kit's shirt when his fork does too. Jem cheerfully hands over the role of the responsible parent and spends the entire meal talking to Church, because all Jem has ever truly loved is "that devil cat". Then they decide to play a board game, and it's all very fluffy and domestic until the game starts, because it's Monopoly and neither Kit nor Tessa are prepared to lose. Jem ambles along cheerfully, seemingly surprised by the number of hotels he has, and how he never lands on income tax. He's a very good sport about winning, and congratulates Kit and Tessa, which of course makes them hopping mad. 

They do end up going to the theme park in the end, and Kit and Cordy have masses of fun nearly dying many times. Presumably Jem and Tessa have fun too, but, being parents and adults, they always have the same fond, sentimental smile on their faces. Kit finds it both hideously patronising and extremely sweet at the same time. The park sells candy floss, too, the proper fluffy stuff that melts in your mouth, not the greyish stuff that turns to cardboard. They all get candy floss, and, being a family, when Cordy drops hers, nobody offers theirs to her until Jem is nudged and reminded that he is the nice one. He gives her his, muttering darkly, and then becomes extremely happy because for his troubles he gets a whole new one.

It's about 3 o'clock when they get back, and Kit heads for the hills immediately. This time, when he thinks of Ty, he isn't immediately swallowed by gloom and angst. Instead, he thinks of the good times (while being aware it's incredibly sickening) and treasures the time he spent with Ty. He thinks he's happier now because he has accepted his separation from Ty and has moved on. Actually, it's because his family cheered him up, and tomorrow he'll go out and be depressed again, but Kit doesn't need to know that.

* * *

In the evening, Tessa tucks Cordy in while Jem sits with Kit, drinking tea and discussing their love lives. Kit persuades him not to talk about Tessa, because she's essentially his mum and it would be incredibly embarrassing, but Jem talks of Will wistfully and in great detail. Until Church is brought up, and Will and Tessa, obviously inferior, are forgotten. Kit only talks about Ty a little bit, but it's enough for Jem to see how much he loves him. Kit insists that he's moved on, and Jem smiles.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading! Kudos and comments much appreciated.


	2. Ty

When Ty wakes up, for the first time in years he doesn't immediately go back to sleep before Kit starts to haunt him. This is partially due to him having started to accept that he may never see Kit again, and also due to his idiot friend Marie, who had just ripped off his covers. He groans and scrabbles for his headphones automatically, panicking a little when he doesn't find them on the desk. He hears Marie laugh a little, and, realising that she had them, he scowls at her. It's a little refreshing, honestly, because at the Institute no one would have dreamed of doing that. He found it helpful, obviously, but no one here understands what autism could possibly be, and they treat him completely normally while not pushing his limits. Ty finds it a bit annoying that they think he acts "strange" on purpose, but he can't really change that.

Marie drags him down to breakfast, where the yell of the students causes a familiar rising panic in him. But he puts his headphones on, and over the last two years he's managed to sort of get used to it. He and Marie sit with their usual friends, and Ty can't help but reflect for a second that this was the kind of thing he could only have dreamed of before. Friends. Puzzles. Normality. Not being constantly reminded that he was different by his family's incessant coddling. Then the old ache of Livvy's absence starts to surface, but he pushes it down sternly, and remembers that actually she is hanging around somewhere, but she doesn't want anyone to notice her, just in case, though most people can't.

Lessons start, and again Ty feels a little starburst of happiness that he is here, despite being used to it. Lessons aren't really lessons; the students have periods of time carved out in the day to do some puzzles, to solve cases Institutes couldn't solve and have handed over for help, to train with the best. He is challenged and he comes out the other side far better, and he loves it, loves it with the thrill he gets when he hasn't quite solved a case but he knows he's close. 

He, Marie, and another of their friends Oliver had just finished a particularly tricky case by lunchtime. They spent their break describing it: a case of an extremely clever Eidolon. The others are suitably impressed until Ryan points out that he had to spar with Carl Swiftbolter (the name suits him: he's a slow thinker, but moves unbelievably fast when it comes to inflicting pain). Everyone groans in sympathy and pats him on the back and even Ty, Marie and Oliver have to admit that this is a far more trying feat. 

Lunch is over quickly, and it is now Ty and Marie's turn to spar. Oliver has another puzzle session, the lucky thing. Ty is unfortunately paired with one of Carl's friends, a small rat-like boy whose name Ty did know, before he realised he didn't actually care and forgot. Ben Solsomething, maybe? Or was that the other one. Marie doubles over with laughter when she realises who his partner is. She has one of their friends, Lauren. 

Ty beats Whatshisname in the end, but with great difficulty. He hasn't had to work this hard in ages, and he realises continually sparring with his friends has made him lazy. He resolves to work on that.

All of a sudden, Ty is plunged into despair. They're practising their falls, and he is reminded abruptly and overwhelmingly of Kit. His Kit. His Kit, who had run away and said he wished he'd never met him. He realises that he has not, in fact, got over Kit, and he probably never will. That brutal realisation is what destroys him more than anything; that his Kit is gone and Ty will never move on from that. Marie glances at him in concern, and he is distantly aware that his pupils are probably extremely dilated and his breathing has gone strange. She reaches out to touch him, but hesitates, unsure whether that boundary is too delicate to push. He nods a little, suddenly craving contact, and she places a firm, grounding hand on his elbow. He recovers as much as he can, grateful that no one else had noticed his mini panic attack, and prepares to jump off the beam. 

When it is finally night time, Ty stares up at the ceiling, unable to sleep. In the other bed, Oliver is snoring loudly, but that's not what keeps Ty awake. What keeps Ty awake is the image of Kit that is always dancing in his peripheral vision. Ty misses Kit's laugh, Kit's sarcasm, just Kit in general. He reflects, somewhat sulkily, that Sherlock is a bit pointless and dare he say it... boring? without his Watson. Ty thinks that sums him up. Pointless and a bit boring without Kit. He knows Kit doesn't miss him, though. Sherlock needs Watson to show off to, to turn to for help, but Watson survived a whole war, for heaven's sake. Watson is fine on his own. (This is not true. If not for Sherlock, Watson wouldn't have a place to live or any money.)

So Ty stares up at that ceiling, regretting if not all his life choices, then a hell of a lot of them. He can think up all the analogies and explanations he wants, but really he just misses Kit. 

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! Kudos and comments much appreciated.


End file.
